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10 of 18 midsize SUVs earn 'good' IIHS side impact safety rating

It's not terribly surprising that midsize SUVs earned better safety ratings than small SUVs in the latest side-impact tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Just how much better they scored, on the other hand, certainly raises an eyebrow. Ten out of 18 midsize SUVs earned the highest rating of 'good' in the stringent new test, altered for vehicles starting with the 2020 model year with a heavier barrier (4,200 pounds) that moves at a higher speed (37 miles per hour) and is fitted with a hard honeycomb frontal structure. By way of contrast, just one out of of 20 small SUVs earned a 'good' score.  SUVs that receiving 'good' scores were the Ford Explorer, Infiniti QX60, Lincoln Aviator, Mazda CX-9, Nissan Pathfinder, Subaru Ascent, Toyota Highlander, Volkswagen Atlas, Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport and Volkswagen ID.4. For EV fans, it's worth noting the ID.4 was the only electric vehicle included in the test. The Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse scraped away with 'acceptable' ratings while the Honda Passport, Honda Pilot, Hyundai Palisade, Jeep Wrangler 4-door, Kia Telluride and Nissan Murano were deemed merely 'marginal' in the tough new test. Only two models — the Mazda CX-9 and Volkswagen ID.4 — earned a "Good" rating in every test category.  Interestingly, the Jeep Wrangler would have scored a 'good' rating if it were equipped with side airbags for the rear seating positions. It would likely be an engineering challenge to equip its removable top and/or doors with airbags, but the lack of that safety feature allowed the head of the rear passenger dummy to hit the vertical support of the top. Otherwise, the Wrangler scored good ratings across the board. The new Ford Bronco, which makes more allowances for side-impact safety, has not yet been tested.  The popular Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride SUVs stand out in the test with 'poor' ratings for driver pelvis injuries. The Nissan Murano, a vehicle last redesigned for the 2015 model year, was the only vehicle tested that received a 'poor' rating for its structure and safety cage. Videos of the tests of 12 of these 18 SUVs can be found on the IIHS' YouTube page. Related video: Green Buick Chevrolet Ford Honda Hyundai Infiniti Jeep Kia Mazda Nissan Subaru Toyota Volkswagen Safety Crossover SUV IIHS Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Nissan gets new NA boss, lowered forecasts in management shakeup

José Muñoz, a Nissan and Infiniti sales and marketing vice president, will replace Colin Dodge as Nissan's new North America chief, come Jan. 1, as part of a wide-ranging management shuffle, Automotive News reports. Dodge will remain on Nissan's board, be assigned to special projects and report directly to CEO Carlos Ghosn.
Nissan is working on reorganizing its global operations into six regions, each with a new chief: North America (Muñoz' territory), Latin America, Japan-Southeast Asia, China, Europe and Africa-India-Middle East. Currently Nissan divides the globe into three regions, the Americas, Europe-Africa-India-Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
Nissan also lowered its sales forecast from 5.3-million vehicles to 5.2 million for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2014. Last year, the company sold 4.914 million in the same period. In May, after Nissan's market share had fallen to 7.7 percent, Ghosn said he wants to double sales in the US by 2017 and increase its market share in the country to 10 percent.

Since 2010, Chevy Volt has outsold Nissan Leaf by just two units

The first two plug-in vehicles from major automakers in the US were the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf. Ever since they went on sale to much fanfare in late 2010, we've been tracking the monthly sales with great interest (and, of course, other green vehicle sales as well). After a big initial lead by the Volt – the Volt outsold the Leaf 23,461 to 9,819 in 2012 – the Leaf has been chugging along and outsold the Volt every month since November 2013. We knew that the cumulative totals would soon tip in favor of the Leaf, but for at least one more month, the Volt is going to be able to say its the most popular plug-in vehicle in the US. Overall, for all officially reported sales of the Leaf and the Volt, things are almost exactly tied. Since the vehicles went on sale in the end of 2010 until the end of February 2015, the Volt has sold 74,592 units and the Leaf has sold ... drumroll please ... 74,590 units. For February, Leaf sales totaled 1,198 units, a 17-percent drop from the 1,425 Leafs sold last February. Brendan Jones, Nissan's director of Electric Vehicle Sales and Infrastructure, said in a statement that, "Tough winter weather in several key markets held EV sales back in February. As we head into spring, we look forward to seeing more dealership traffic so shoppers can experience firsthand the benefits of the all-electric Nissan Leaf." Of course, it was cold in the US last February, too, but we're sure that the nasty weather did indeed play a role last month. Things were even worse for the Chevy Volt, which dropped to just 693 copies sold, down 47 percent from the 1,210 sold last year. That's just barely enough for Chevy to keep talking about its plug-in sales leadership, but we expect the message to change once the March numbers come out next month. Related Video: